I talk a lot on my facebook about meal planning and the more my friends ask me about it the more i think i should blog and share my ideas with people. This is ton of me rambling and i promise to post interesting things like whats for dinner and my recipes but this will give all of you that ask a little insight to how my mind works and how i do what i do.
Disclaimer: I am in now way super woman or the perfect housewife (which i have been called) my housework is sub-par, i have tons of clean laundry in baskets waiting for me to be put away. I "clean" every day but i also have a 10 year old, 4 year old, 16 month old, three dogs, one cat, and sometimes an extra kid hanging around. I spend a lot of time at the park, going for walks, playing outside with my kids...sure i could be a little tidier but I want to be able to say i DID something with my kids...which my mom never did with me (I can say that because my mom is not computer savvy and will never see this LOL). I lived with my grandparents from the time i was 12 until i moved out at 18 and they are the best parents ever (yes i brag) they are seriously amazing (if you know they you'll agree) they always had a clean home...too bad some of those cleaning genes didn't rub off on me haha *im saying that in my sarcastic voice*
Why I meal plan: I meal plan because it can be done in less than an hour. My kids get to help pick items that they actually WANT to eat. I am not stuck in the kitchen trying to figure out what is for dinner. I never have to run to the store to pick up what we need, we rarely eat out (saving us tons of money), and i get to enjoy more things with my family.
How I shop: My husband gets paid monthly, so i shop monthly. The bulk of my shopping is done within the first week of the month. I always check my sale ads weekly and try to match coupons and store deal to stretch my dollars as far as i can. coupons are my friend. I know they are not for everyone BUT they are not as hard to use as people think!!! There are TONS and i mean TONS of websites, blogs, and facebook pages dedicated to coupons.
Where do i find recipes: pinterest, pinterest, pinterest!!! I love pinterest. I pin to my "nom nom nom" board almost daily. i dedicated two days a week to bbqing because i need a break from cooking. My husband has many fine qualities but cooking is not one of them....however, grilling is! I try to incorporate something new into our meal plan weekly from pinterest. If we like it i save it in my cookbook and use it again another month. We also eat the basics, tacos, burritos, chicken, salads, ect. Do we repeat meals in the same month? yes and no. We eat chicken tacos and beef tacos but never beef tacos twice. I guess we eat variations of the same foods. But hey a girl can only make so much!!
How do i cook: I use and love my crock pot. if you don't own one you are missing out! I use my crock pot for darn near everything! I also love and i mean love my bread machine. I make all of our breads and buns so my bread machine gets a lot of use, at least once a week. This next school year i have two kids in elementary school so i think my bread machine will be seeing flour at least twice a week. I typically make one crock pot meal a week. Its hot where i live..and by hot i mean today was 110. using my crock pot allows me to cut down on my time in front of the stove. the best thing about a crock pot is for those that work outside of the home meals can be cooking all day long and a home cooked amazing dinner can be waiting for you when you get home! I also use my crock pot for refried beans. My kids love them some beans. I make them weekly. When i get home from the grocery store i spend the first hour cutting veggies, properly wrapping my produce, and prepping/marinating my meats. I freeze my meats with their seasoning/marinades so they marinate while defrosting (saving me time yet again). If a dinner calls for marinade and veggies or fruit i freeze those with the meat.
More details: Today I did this months grocery list. My oldest and my niece planned out our meals (with a little help) so we made our list and hit the store....all 4 kids and me. Are you thinking I'm crazy yet??? Well I'm pretty sure the checkers at both Food 4 Less and Albertsons were questioning my sanity!! Anyways, after we got home i prepped all my foods. I had the girls put all the canned/boxed foods away (yes we buy boxed foods, i have small kids...they love mac and cheese). I had my 4 year old put away all the old stuff. That gave me time to get my meats, seasonings, and marinades out. This month we are having carne asada tacos, beef tacos, chicken tacos, and hamburgers (just to name a few items). I found a carne asada marinade recipe a week ago that we really liked so i use it again. It is super simple to make, really makes me wish i would have done it years ago instead of buying over priced pre-seasoned meat. I also seasoned two lbs of beef taco meat, cooked and shredded 1.5lbs of chicken for chicken tacos or chicken salads, made my own frozen burritos (using homemade refried beans and homemade tortillas), grated 2lbs of cheese, and made a load of blueberry bread (by hand) all for the freezer. I really find this saves me time in the long run! Tomorrow if i can bear the heat i plan to make hamburger buns, pancakes, and french toast also for the freezer.
Tomorrow I plan to share my families first week of meals.
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